Today, diseases caused by many types of protozoa and worms are widespread.The danger of such diseases is explained not only by complications and malfunctions in the body caused by protozoa and worms, but also by the difficulty of diagnosing the disease due to the similarity of symptoms to various non-parasitic diseases.
Helminths and protozoa cause:
- disorders of the gastrointestinal tract (constipation, diarrhea, vomiting);
- allergic skin reactions;
- general intoxication of the body;
- muscle and joint pain;
- dehydration.
To avoid diagnostic errors and prescribe an inappropriate treatment procedure, which at best is simply ineffective and at worst can cause complications, you need to accurately determine the type of helminths and the degree of infection of the body.
Routes of infection with protozoan helminths
All worms enter the body from the outside.The same is true for protozoan helminths.In the environment, they live in soil and water bodies.In addition to unwashed hands and eating poor-quality food, you can also become infected with them at home, through contact with a carrier.
The main mechanism of all infections is most often oral-fecal, that is, a person simply swallows the worm eggs with food and water, and less often helminthic infections from the bites of infected insects also occur.
Protozoan worms that live in humans belong to the class of unicellular.The infection is called protozoan.Depending on the type and extent of the invasion, the course of the disease can be serious, even causing the death of the patient.
What helminths are called protozoans?
The body of protozoan helminths can have a constant shape (cilia and flagella) and a variable body - a clear representative of the amoeba.Their size is very small and ranges from 4-5 micrometers to 1-3 millimeters.The cells of these microorganisms often have several nuclei.The locomotor organs are jaws, cilia and flagella.Depending on the species, the reproduction process takes place by bisection or by a complex sexual method.
In order to protect themselves from unfavorable external conditions and to spread further, protozoan helminths can turn into cysts, which are cells covered with a protective membrane.This allows them to go from a dormant cyst to an active state when given a favorable environment.
There are often situations when the host does not even notice the protozoan helminths parasitizing it.In other cases, the infection leads to the death of the host.For example, some African antelope species are permanent "hosts" of trypanosomatids.The bite of the tsetse fly, the carrier of the intestinal worm, can infect a person and cause drowsiness, which is known to be life-threatening.
The most studied protozoans are helminths
Parasites belonging to the class of flagellates in the human body:
- Giardia is a parasite that usually lives in the intestines, bile ducts, and livers of vertebrates (humans and animals).They can spread through food, water and other factors.This group of protozoa is the cause of a disease such as giardiasis, which is a functional disorder of the gastrointestinal tract, namely the small intestine.Many patients infected with Giardia do not experience any obvious symptoms.
- Leishmania is a protozoan helminth transmitted by mosquitoes.After an insect bites a person, there is a high probability of contracting leishmaniasis.Signs of the disease are damage to the skin, mucous membranes and some internal organs;fever and anemia are often signs of the disease.
- Trypanosomatids are protozoans transmitted by insects.When the body becomes infected, the disease causes trypanosomiasis.This disease has a long course.Depending on the type of trypanosomatids, different systems and organs are affected.
- Amoebic dysentery is a parasite in the intestines.Invasion occurs in the form of a 4-nucleate cyst.Although the dysenteric amoeba is found almost everywhere, the most frequent cases of infection are registered in tropical countries.Amoeba is the cause of an infectious protozoan disease in humans such as amebiasis.The clinical picture of the disease is ulcerative colitis, characterized by relapses and exacerbations.There are also cases of extraintestinal amebiasis - these protozoan helminths travel from the intestines to other organs and even to the skin.The latest form of the disease is called cutaneous amoebiasis - obvious ulcer-necrotic signs are observed on the buttocks and perineum.
- Trichomonas causes trichomoniasis.Currently, several subspecies of Trichomonas have been studied.Intestine, whose parasitizing area is located in the large intestine, and the intestinal worm does not cause any particular damage to the intestines.The territory of the genitourinary parasite Trichomonas, as its name suggests, is the urinary system.Infection occurs through sexual contact.This subspecies of the protozoan is the cause of a disease such as trichomoniasis.This infectious disease manifests itself in inflammatory phenomena of the urogenital system.Oral Trichomonas is a parasite in the oral cavity and does not pose a threat to humans.
Sporozoan species of protozoa are represented by malarial plasmodium and coccidia:
- Plasmodium falciparum, which is spread by mosquitoes and causes malaria, is a protozoan microorganism.Parasites in the blood.Malaria in a person infected with this parasite is manifested by the following symptoms: hypochromic anemia, fever attacks, enlargement of organs such as the liver and spleen.
- Coccidia are protozoans that live in the intestinal epithelium of many animals.Coccidiosis is caused by several species of coccidia.In humans, this disease occurs with mild poisoning and symptoms of gastroenteritis or enteritis.
Cilia: balantidia.This order of protozoa living in the large intestine is the cause of diseases such as ciliated dysentery (balantidiasis).
Diagnosis and treatment of protozoan helminths
Very often, when the presence of helminths in the body occurs without symptoms, the disease remains undiagnosed for a long time.Invasion is suspected by specific symptoms and can only be detected by laboratory testing of feces, urine, blood, and fluids obtained by puncture from various organs and systems.
In medical practice, there are general principles for the treatment of protozoal invasion:
- antiparasitic drugs;
- non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs;
- detoxification agents;
- in case of secondary bacterial infection, narrowly targeted antibiotics.
The doctor prescribes a specific treatment depending on the type of protozoan helminth and the extent of the infection.